The Langford Resort Hotel In Winter Park, Florida

Robert E Langford built a hotel in Winter Park in 1955. It was the first air-conditioned hotel in Central Florida. It became the site where wealthy northerners spent their winters, and where prominent persons stayed when in the Orlando area - before Disney, that is. The Disney brothers stayed there, too. It was the center of community activities. There was a zoo, a bar, a radio station, and well-known chefs cooking for the restaurant. There were outstanding bands and internationally know night-club acts. There was an Olympic pool with swimming meets and diving competitions until the insurance became too expensive. Visitors from Canada, Europe and all over the world stayed at the Langford. It closed in 2000 and was torn down in 2001. The cost of refurbishing had become entirely too high. This is the story of a family that provided hotel services at the Del Prado Hotel in Chicago, and later the Langford in Winter Park, its influence on Winter Park, and the donation of land to the University of Central Florida and the Wekiva Springs State Park.